For starters, we are assuming the fans of Vancouver are going to be on their best behaviour.

Whether their football Lions win or lose, there cannot be, and shouldn’t be, anything like a repeat of the shenanigans that marred the city’s reputation after Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final last June.

Five months later, it’s time for one of Canada’s great cities, the host of the Winter Olympics back in 2010, to reassert its class.

Vancouver is, without question, a blessed city when it comes to sports these days, and hosting the 99th Grey Cup next weekend with the city’s own team in the match is just another in that series of blessings.

That said, the city that sends the opponent to Sunday’s game might argue it has just as many reasons to be grateful.

Winnipeg, a.k.a. Swaggerville, has enjoyed a wonderful 2011, both in watching the Blue Bombers, 4-14 a year ago, rebound to claim the CFL’s Eastern title, and in witnessing the return of the NHL in the form of the reborn Jets.

One city that has grown used to hosting the country’s biggest events, one city feeling like it’s back in the big time again.

Not a bad backdrop to what Canadians have long called the Grand National Drunk, wouldn’t you say?

Neither of Sunday’s division finals was particularly close or particularly entertaining, although the frozen fans of The Peg undoubtedly enjoyed watching the Bombers and Chris Garrett turn the Hamilton Tiger-Cats into ground chuck and B.C. supporters revelled in the 40-23 romp over the Edmonton Eskimos.

After all the talk of parity and anybody-can-win-this-thing, the Bombers and Lions both demonstrated that finishing first, getting a first-round playoff bye and playing before the home faithful is a fairly reliable recipe for success.

Winnipeg trailed briefly in the early moments, but the stoutest defence in three-down football knocked Hamilton quarterback Kevin Glenn out of the game and ensured the Tiger-Cat offence that had exploded for 52 points the week before would not be able to join hometown McMaster University, a finalist for the Vanier Cup at refurbished B.C. Place on Friday, on the trip over the Rockies.

Garrett, the 24-year-old fire hydrant from New York City, rumbled left and rumbled right and generally appeared much more interested in contact on a frigid day than most members of the Hamilton defence. The Bombers didn’t exactly light it up in traditional CFL style, but they expertly managed field position all day with superb punting from Jamie Boreham and let their defence get them to the Grey Cup with a 19-3 win.

That will give 37-year-old defensive lineman Doug Brown a chance to end his CFL career in style Sunday, and gave the best ending possible to the 58-year-old football building long known as Winnipeg Stadium that will give way to a new home on the grounds of the University of Manitoba next season.

The Bombers, it’s fair to say, didn’t overwhelm their opponent in anything like the way the Lions trampled Edmonton, so B.C. will be a significant favourite heading into Sunday’s game.

The Lions, their awful 0-5 start to this season barely a memory, own the CFL’s hottest young talent in red-haired quarterback Travis Lulay, an Oregonian by way of Montana State who has blossomed this season and may be the league’s next great quarterback.

Lulay, no kid at age 28 but still younger than the likes of Anthony Calvillo, Ricky Ray, Henry Burris, Buck Pierce and Glenn, threw for 313 yards in his second CFL playoff game and capped it off with a spectacular 61-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to turn a one-sided game into a complete rout.

And who did he get to celebrate the victory with on the B.C sidelines after the final whistle? Why, none other than Senator David Braley, who Toronto Argonaut fans may vaguely recall as the owner of their team, as well as the Lions.

An optimist might suggest that if Braley can build such a powerful team in Vancouver, surely the same will happen in southern Ontario next season, particularly with the Argos set to host the 100th Grey Cup.

A cynic, on the other hand, might grimace at the memory of just how bad the Argos were this season, and wonder if the Toronto franchise gets any of Braley’s attention whatsoever compared to the Lions.

This we know: B.C. can become the first team to win the Grey Cup on its home field since the Lions were the last team to do it in 1994, the year Lui Passaglia kicked the winning field goal to upset the Baltimore Stallions.

This time, the Lions won’t want an upset to happen. They’ve been the most dominant team in the second half of this CFL season, and they’ll want that to continue for one more game.

If they want to guarantee a happy, tranquil Vancouver on Sunday night, they’ll make it happen.

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